


Hide & Seek

by Marykatebooks



Category: Henry Danger (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bad Parents AU, Gen, Henry's Parents Suck, It's just fluff (mostly), Neglect, No Ray/Henry Here, Parent-Child Relationship, Ray adopts Henry, dad!ray
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26149549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marykatebooks/pseuds/Marykatebooks
Summary: "What a weird joke to pull on someone. After all, who would just leave a 13-year-old in a house by himself? That didn’t make any sense. Nonetheless, he read, and reread the letter over and over again. Still a joke. So why were his hands shaking? Why was his throat burning and his eyes stinging? The more he read the letter, the less it was a joke to him.//Henry returns home one night to find that his family has abandoned him and left him to the care of his mentor, Captain Man. As Henry and Ray navigate this new aspect of their relationship, they realize that they are the found family they both needed. AU.
Relationships: Henry Hart & Ray Manchester
Comments: 4
Kudos: 93





	1. Where Are We? and What is Going On?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, guys. So this story takes place at the beginning of the series. I would say Henry's been his sidekick for about a month or two. Also, I made Jake Henry's stepdad and Piper, Henry's half-sister. Now, on with the story.

Henry walked through his doors and immediately sighed in exhaustion. Another day at the base, training. It seemed like Ray had been working him extra hard today, not that he was complaining. Luckily, there had been no bad guys because he really had a history test to study for and his grades already weren’t looking good. He caught a whiff of himself and cringed. He needed a good shower and a change of clothes. With another sigh, he tried to stretch and go to his room. Before he could do that though, his stomach growled. Right, he forgot that. He had eaten before training but not after. Hopefully, his mom had left him some dinner, he could really go for some of her pot roast right now. 

Walking across the house, he was only focused on the fridge. With a smidge of hope, he looked through the contents of the fridge, searching for a covered plate. As deep as he searched he didn’t see anything of the sort. Jake must have come home. Whenever he was around, his mom essentially ignored his existence. His stepdad hated him and always would. Henry simply wasn’t part of his vision of a perfect family. The hero tried not to let his stepdad occupy his thoughts because that made him get down on himself. On the bright side, he did find a hot pocket buried in the freezer so it wasn’t the worst day ever. Setting the timer on the microwave, he took the time to look around. 

It was only then that he realized that he hadn’t heard anyone else since he had come back. Jake didn’t have the TV on, Piper wasn’t yelling about something on Instagram, and his mom wasn’t on the phone with someone. His watch told him it was almost 10 at night. They could just have just gotten out to eat, although they should have come back by now. He wasn’t too concerned however, they would most likely be home soon. He could call his mom but he knew she was off-limits when the three of them were out. That would get him a stern yelling at. His food was done before he knew it. He took it up to his room to study while he ate. 

Deep in study, two hours had passed before he knew it. Charlotte and Jasper had called him to help him out. He felt pretty confident about his test tomorrow. With a deep sigh, he closed his books and glanced at the clock. Almost midnight by now. He suddenly remembered the rest of his family. He didn’t recall hearing them return but he was studying hard and his door was closed. It was still quiet but they would have all been asleep by now. For a moment, he considered going to bed but for peace of mind, he stuck his head out of his room to check. Again, no noise.

Walking down the stairs, he turned on a light to see the living room better. He was shocked to see no sign of life, nothing different than when he had walked in. The pillows were just as straight as they were when he walked in. Now he was concerned. Why would they not come back? There were no shoes by the door, no coats on the coat rack, and no smell of his mother’s perfume. He knew it would get him in trouble but he had to find out where they were, just for peace of mind. He ran upstairs to grab his phone. As he did so, he decided for a moment to just open Piper’s door to see if she was there. If she was, then he could come up with some more … comforting theories than he currently was. Looking in, he found no sign of life. He stood for a moment trying to calm his heart and think of all the possible reasons that his family did not come home tonight. He saw them in the morning and everything was relatively normal. They had breakfast, he kissed his mom good bye, and reminded her that he had work that night. This had never happened before. Maybe an impromptu vacation? But, it was the middle of the week, in the middle of the school year. Neither of his parents would interrupt Piper’s education like that. Did something happen to them outside? Something tells him that someone would have called him by now.

His thoughts only got worse and worse. He remembered his original goal and ran to his room to grab his phone. He hurriedly dialed his mom’s number and waited for it to ring. Instead, it immediately went to voicemail. His mother never turned off her phone, so why was it going to voicemail? Something must have happened to them. They could have gotten in an accident or been kidnapped or something even worse. He wanted to throw up. Even if Henry didn’t like most of his family, he didn’t want them gone. With his phone in his hand, he ran downstairs to look around. He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for but he just needed something to tell him he was wrong. Running through the living room, he tore it up looking for a sign of life or where they had gone to. Ray had always told him he had a keen eye, so why couldn’t he find anything? He next turned to the kitchen. Like a sign from heaven, he found a yellow piece of notebook paper. He must have been really hungry before because he hadn’t noticed it at all. He was immediately relieved that this had been planned and there was a reasonable explanation.

Looking through the letter, he found his mother’s handwriting comforting. Finally, he took the time to look through what she had actually written. He stopped at the first sentence. I’m sorry, Henry. Sorry? Sorry for what? She hadn’t done anything. As he read on, his heart dropped.

I’m sorry, Henry. This may be confusing to you now, but understand that I had no choice. I hope one day you’ll forgive me for what I’ve done. Jake, Piper, and I have moved out to start a new life and get a new start. I’ve left money and the fridge is full. I trust that you can manage. You were always so responsible. Always took more care of me than I did of you. I love you and will always love you.   
Mommy.

Henry’s reaction was to laugh. What a weird joke to pull on someone. After all, who would just leave a 13-year-old in a house by himself, essentially abandoning him? That didn’t make any sense. Nonetheless, he read, and reread the letter over and more again. Still a joke. So why were his hands shaking? Why was his throat burning and his eyes stinging? The more he read the letter, the less it was a joke to him. But the question still remained: What kind of person would do that to a 13-year-old, let alone his mother? It didn’t make sense. Again and again, he reread the letter, looking for a hidden message, a sign that this wasn’t what was actually going on. That he hadn’t just been left to fend for himself. 

He took a moment to look over his surroundings carefully. He entered his parent’s room, still clutching the letter. The bed was made perfectly as it always was but he noticed things here and there missing, things you couldn’t move without. He wasn’t looking at that, however. He ran to the room in the corner and sure enough there was nothing inside of it. The closet was completely cleaned out. There were no clothes, shoes, jackets, anything. He thought about it again and realized that they had been planning this. They must have been. He left for school at 8:00 and came back at 4:00, left again and came back at 10:00. If they had just started when he had left for school, he would have at least noticed a box or two. No, they had been packing little by little. This time, he didn’t stop the cry that came out of his throat and out of his eyes. He was physically in pain. This was worse than any punch that had been thrown by any villain. This hurt more than that one time he was hit with a laser. 

He began sobbing on his parent’s bed. Henry had never cried as hard as he had in that moment. Of course, his life hadn’t been peaches and cream. For most of his life, it had just been him and his mother. They were quite poor but they had each other. Once Jake had entered the picture, his mother had been a little distracted with the lifestyle she had always wanted but she was still there for him. Now he was alone. Completely and utterly alone. 

Suddenly, he heard a knock at his door. He froze to see if it was real and not just a figment of his imagination. Sure enough, they knocked again and Henry felt a spark of hope. Maybe the whole thing was a huge joke. Maybe that was his mom on the other side to laugh at how good she had gotten him. Henry ran to the door, not even checking to see who was on the other side. Instead of his mom, he was face-to-face with Captain Man himself, Ray. Albeit it a very concerned, very tired Ray. 

“Ray?” Henry couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice even if he tried. He was never disappointed to see his mentor but he really needed to see his mother’s face.

“Kid, is everything alright?” The older man pushed his way inside, though Henry didn’t have the strength to stop him on a good day. He looked on as Ray entered the living room and stopped. The state of the living room would be enough to see that everything was not alright. It was still a mess from earlier. Instead of addressing that, Ray decided to talk about why he was here in the first place. 

“I got a voicemail from your mother hours ago.” That peaked Henry’s attention. So her phone was working. “She said some very concerning things and mentioned that I should be here for you. She’s not here, is she?”

Henry shook his head, mournfully. Instead of saying anything, he silently handed Ray the letter, now wrinkled from how hard he was holding it. Clearly taken aback he sat down, muttering a quiet ‘jeepers’. He reread it as well, clearly not believing what he had seen. Henry only stood next to him, lost in thought over what he would do and how his life would be different after this. Did his mother expect him to just stay here by himself? He was too young to do that. Maybe he could stay with Jasper or Charlotte. Jasper’s mom would never go for that. She hated kids and barely liked having Jasper home. Charlotte’s parents were usually MIA but the whole place was rigged with cameras and they also didn’t like people over. Maybe he could--  
“Henry! Hello?!” The sidekick's thoughts were interrupted by a hand waving in front of him. He didn’t even notice Ray was calling him. 

“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” Normally Ray would have responded with a sarcastic comment about how he wasn’t. But, he stopped himself with a sigh. The boy was going through a pretty significant event. He was clearly exhausted, anxious, and could probably use a break. Ray decided to try his hardest and give Henry a break. He did care about his sidekick, he wasn’t heartless. That was the least he could do. 

“When was the last time you heard from your mom?” Ray asked, getting back on topic.

“I saw her before I left for school. I tried calling her a half hour ago but she didn’t pick up.”

“You left the base at about 10. Why didn’t you try calling her then?”

“I assumed she was at dinner with Jake and Piper. When she’s with the two of them, she’s off limits. And then I was studying for my test till almost midnight and I forgot about it. I’m so stupid. I should have called her earlier. She probably would have picked up.”

Ray should have listened to the rest of what he was saying but he was caught on something he had said in between his rambling.

“Off limits? What do you mean by that?”

“Jake doesn’t like when I interrupt his time with her ‘real family’. I got the yelling of a lifetime the last time I tried it. Jake always came up with these weird rules when it came to my mom. He wants to cut me out of her life completely. I know that’s why he did this.” Henry was now anxiously pacing back and forth, biting his finger nails. Ray grabbed him by his arm to bring him back to the situation at hand and not whatever he was turning over in his mind. He was facing him but he was looking through him and clearly still thinking of anything but the present. 

“Okay, okay Henry. Look at me, over here.” Henry again had to be brought back to reality by Ray. His ears turned red in embarrassment. He wasn’t paying attention again. “It’s pretty late so we’re going to get some sleep. Tomorrow, we’ll get some breakfast, go to the police station, and explain what happened. They’ll tell us what to do next and they’ll find your mom. Don’t freak out.”

Henry nodded. He wasn’t entirely consoled but at least they had a plan of action. Whenever Captain Man came up with a plan, it worked. Most of the time at least. Ray patted him reassuringly and sat up. 

“Do you need to grab anything before we leave?”

Henry remained on the couch and looked at Ray in confusion. “Leave? Where are we going?”

“To my place.” Ray said it as though it were obvious but Henry only looked more bewildered. “You can’t stay here by yourself. Besides, your mom mentioned that I should take care of you.”

That took Henry aback. “She did?”

Ray only nodded. For a moment, the gravity of what was going on struck them. Henry’s mom had not only left, but put him in the care of someone else. She had neglected him. Did that make him an orphan now?

“Henry, don’t be ridiculous. You’re not an orphan.” Apparently he had said that out loud. Ray walked back from the door and sat down again next to Henry. “If Jake is as bad as you say, she is probably under alot of pressure and doesn’t want to do this.”

“Yeah, you’re right. She’s probably crying her eyes out right now. She wouldn’t just leave me willingly. We need to help her.”

“And we will. Tomorrow. Now, let’s go.”

‘But, my stuff. I won’t have time to pack it tonight.”

“It’s almost one in the morning, Henry. We’ll be back tomorrow. You can pack then.”

“Can I just stay here for tonight? Please.” The thing with Henry was that he hated this house. He hated that Jake bought it for them and that they owed it to him to stay in it. He would forever associate the place with his evil stepfather and how small he made Henry feel in it. But, the one thing he lived above all was his room. He loved that he had his own space where only people he allowed could come in. He couldn’t just give that up without a final goodbye. Ray was about to tell him no but then he looked at his face. And he was giving him puppy dog eyes. The more he looked, the more his resolve was shaking. He was getting a little bewildered at that point. Since when was he weak to Henry’s puppy dog eyes. All the same, he sighed heavily and dramatically. He was trying to cut him a break after all.

“Thank you, Ray! I promise we can leave first thing in the morning.”

“Whatever. Just help me put together this couch so I can sleep on it.”

“Alright.” Together, the two of them organized the pillows and cushions on the couch. Once they had finished, Henry went in search of a blanket and pillow for Ray. Before Henry left for bed, Ray called his attention one last time. 

“Henry, get some sleep tonight. Like actual sleep. Don’t stay up thinking about this. There will be time for that time tomorrow. I promise we’ll work it out. Just, get some rest.” Henry only nodded and left Ray with a final goodnight before going upstairs. As he walked up the stairs, he couldn’t help but think of how different his life was from when he walked down them earlier this evening. What would happen to the house? What about everyone’s room and their things? Clearly they took what they needed when they left. They just forgot about him. 

As he closed his door behind him, he felt himself choke up but he didn’t cry. He just dragged himself to his bed and felt the weight of everything on his shoulders. He didn’t know how Ray expected him to get any sleep. How could he when he was just abandoned by the only family he had ever had? A bit of anger now swelled in him. At first, he directed it towards Ray for expecting that from him. But, he realized that that was unfair and he wasn’t really mad at the older man. He was mad at Jake. As much as he had always resented him, he just couldn’t find himself angry at the person who made his mom so happy. And he really did at least most of the time. They had their moments where he didn’t think Jake treated his mother properly. But she always reassured him that everything was fine and if it wasn’t, she would handle it. Sure enough, the next day things would be back to normal between them. But that was before, Jake had crossed the line now. Forcing his mother to leave him, wasn’t something that they could handle. That would be the end of everything, he was sure of that. His mom could put up with alot but this is too much. 

His mind was racing for longer than he thought, but eventually he calmed down as sleep caught up with him. As he fell unconscious, he could only think of how he couldn’t wait to be with his mom again.


	2. The Dust Has Only Just Begun To Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry and Ray have breakfast.

Henry’s sleep was abruptly interrupted by the sound of an alarm. Groaning, he flopped a hand over to turn it off. He gave himself a few minutes before finally opening his eyes. The teenager stretched a little before fully getting out of bed. Time for school. He groaned again, only this time internally. He headed for his bathroom to take a shower, that he desperately needed. As he entered his bathroom, he caught a look in the mirror and took a moment to look at his appearance. For some reason, he was suddenly brought to his senses, to the situation he was currently in. He backed away from the mirror and rushed to his door for confirmation. Sure enough, there were no sounds of his mom in the kitchen or Piper groaning about how early it was. All he heard were the sounds of Ray snoring. 

He decided he wasn’t going to think about it again. He spent all night doing that. Instead, he decided that he would take the time to go back to sleep. 

///

He gave himself about 3 more hours and woke up at around 9 in the morning, feeling much more refreshed than the ungodly hour that he was usually up at for school. For a moment, he was glad that he could have a day off, but then he felt bad about thinking that. Instead, he thought a shower was in order. This time he wasted no time in getting up and stepping under the hot water. 

In a couple of minutes, Henry was washed, dressed, and groomed. It was only then that he decided to look at his phone. He saw a couple million texts from Charlotte and Jasper, asking where he was and if everything was alright. After all, he rarely missed a day of school. Even if he was sick, it would take a particularly nasty illness to keep him at home. Sure, he wasn’t the biggest fan of teachers, tests, and bad lunch food but that versus 8 more hours of Jake telling him that he was lazy and good for nothing --- the choice wasn’t very hard. Besides he had his friends with him. He could take anything.

He decided that he would wait to tell them in person everything that had happened. If they even caught a whiff of something wrong, they would immediately ditch to get the truth. He didn’t want to force them to do that. He was so ready to tell them though. They would want to be there for him and he could really use his friends right now. He quickly replied that he was pretty sick and would be gone for the day. They replied that they would be over to see him after school. Henry took a moment to think about how his day would probably go. Ray had said that they would go for breakfast and then go to the police department. That wouldn’t take four hours, they would be back here. As he was typing out his reply, he remembered. This was his last night here. They were going back to Ray’s apartment this afternoon. He needed to pack.

The next hour was spent going through his stuff and deciding which things could he do without and which things needed to be with him. He stuffed a bunch of his clothes in the lone suitcase he found in the back of his closet. After the clothes, there wasn’t space for much else, but there wasn’t very many other things he needed. He added his laptop, chargers, spare Kid Danger gear, and some shoes. Looking around his room, he decided to keep a few photos and some old toys he had. It was as he was zipping up his suitcase, that he caught sight of the box at the very top of his closet. How could he have forgotten that? There was no way he could leave without it, his most prized possession. He quickly grabbed it down and reopened the luggage. He stuffed it at the bottom, careful not to crush it but making sure it was well hidden. With one final look, he decided he had grabbed what he needed. Besides, he would be back within a week or two, if everything went well. 

Looking at the time, he saw that it was almost eleven, which explained why he was so hungry. He decided to make his way downstairs and join Ray, that is, if he’s even up. 

Sure enough, before he was completely downstairs, he could still hear Captain Man’s snoring. He could leave him to sleep more but he needed to get a start on the day. The sooner they did the sooner they could find his mom and save her. 

He thought about some ways he could wake him up as he stepped down the last stairs. He was pretty sound asleep. If he remembered correctly, Ray was a deep sleeper but that was because he usually didn’t get much sleep. He often worked late into the night and would wake up early to train at the gym. For the few hours of sleep that he did catch, he was out like a light. It looked like Ray did catch a few more hours of sleep so it shouldn’t take too much to wake him up. 

Henry gently shook his shoulders as he said Ray’s name. After a few seconds with no response, he shook a little harder and said his name a little louder. Still nothing. Finally, he settled on vigorously shaking the man until finally he moved on his own. The older man woke up confused but not very alert. All the yelling was lost on him. 

Ray looked around, still in the process of waking up. He realized that this wasn’t really where he usually woke up but he didn’t panic. It didn’t take long for him to piece it all together and remember the events of last night. He finally looked up and saw his sidekick’s face staring down at him. 

“Morning, Ray.” He replied with a grunt before stretching his arms. Henry looked on as Ray twisted and turned, attempting to straighten out. He knew that the couch wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep for the night. He could practically feel his back aching just thinking about it. With a final yawn, Ray finished up and flopped back down on the couch. 

“Morning Henry. How’d you sleep?”

“Not as well as you told me to.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Ray finally got up and began arranging his bed. Following Ray’s lead, Henry helped him fold the sheets and then put it back to the closet he had gotten it from. 

“How long have you been up?”

“My alarm woke me up at 6 but I figured I wasn’t going to school today so I slept until 9.”

“9? It’s almost noon, why didn’t you wake me up?”

Henry only shrugged. He could have added more detail, said how he thought Ray deserved more sleep for putting up with him, or that he was so freaked out about yesterday that he could barely move around his room let alone downstairs — but he decided not to. Ray didn’t seem very concerned about it so he left it there. 

“Whateves. Have you eaten yet?”

“You said we were going out for breakfast?” He was almost scared to bring it up for fear that Ray was kidding or didn’t mean it. He didn’t think Ray would do that but that had happened before. 

“Oh thank god thank sounds amazing. Okay, let’s go.”

“Should I bring my stuff down?”

“No, we’re gonna come back here. Hopefully it won’t be too long till you’re back here but just in case, we have to clean some things out.” Henry nodded in agreement. Still, he had a sinking feeling that he would never live in this house again. And as many bad memories as he had in this house, there was something not very pleasant about thinking of the alternatives. Him and his mom jumping from place to place or his mom getting married again to some awful guy. That thought stressed him out.

They left the house soon after that. Ray confirmed that there was a spare key somewhere outside just in case she came back when they were gone. Ray was doing his best to comfort Henry and show that he was hopeful that she would be back soon enough. But, in Ray’s adult opinion, the situation seemed pretty hopeless. That letter didn’t seem forced or coerced, it seemed full of guilt. Like a mother who’s making a selfish decision and is poorly trying to justify herself. It also looked like Henry was picking up on the same thing but was naively keeping hope. If he was honest, that’s how Ray wanted to keep it. If Henry could maintain a little bit of hope, he could at least have a shot at keeping his spirits up. Once he loses hope of his mother coming back, that would be a whole other battle that Ray would not be able to handle. 

Ray had met Henry’s mom on a few occasions. The first thing he thought when he saw her: smoking hot. He couldn’t even hide that part and it grossed Henry out but that was about it. He didn’t really consider a relationship with her because she was married and he wasn’t really looking to become a parent to two kids. Besides that, personality wise, she seemed like a nice person and a good mother. However, he would hear some unpleasant things about her now and again from one of Henry or one of his friends. It wasn’t anything outright but things concerning Henry that made Ray think he wasn’t getting the best care at home. Like, a week ago, Henry mentioned how he hadn’t eaten anything the day before because he had missed dinner the night before and he didn’t have any lunch money. Also, he overheard Charlotte offering for him to stay at her house because his stepdad was home. It wasn’t anything overly concerning but concerning enough for him to wonder if he should press for more details (which he didn’t). All this to say, when he heard her voicemail and read the letter she had left, he had a feeling that she had gone willingly. To her credit, he did believe his step father had a part in making her abandon Henry, she wasn’t evil after all. But, he doesn’t think that she put up much of a fight. 

The car ride to the diner was silent. There was too much for both of them to think about. Anything Ray wanted to bring up seemed way too frivolous to speak into existence. Luckily, Henry was so out of it that he didn’t think about it. It wasn’t a far drive and they were soon at the restaurant and seated inside. The server got them both orange juice while they decided what they wanted to eat. But looking over, Ray saw that Henry wasn’t focused on the menu in front of him. 

“Henry, can you try to distract yourself for a little while, at least until we’re done with breakfast?” Ray pleaded. 

Henry blushed a bit at having been caught but he sighed in exasperation all the same. “Sorry, it’s kinda hard to forget that I’ve been abandoned by my family.” Luckily, there weren’t too many people seated around them or Ray would have told him to lower his voice. They didn’t need everyone knowing what had happened. 

“I understand that but—“

“No you don’t.” Henry spoke angrily but blinked back tears that were threatening to give way. He then turned to stare out the window as he wiped at the corner of his eyes. Ray had also noticed that he had brought his knees up to his chest. Sometimes the older man forgot how young his sidekick was. On the battlefield, sometimes Henry seemed older than his years, at least he fought like he was. But right now, Ray stared (in what was surprise or pity or whatever other foreign emotion it was) at the very much 13 year old boy who just wanted his mom.

Before Ray could speak their server returned with their drinks and offered to take their order. Ray ordered an everything omelette while Henry (unsurprisingly) got the largest order of pancakes they had. As she left to prepare it, the two settled into another silence, this one much worse than the first. Ray knew that he should probably apologize. He had agreed to cut the kid some slack and didn’t mean to traumatize him. But, Ray was not one to apologize. He didn’t even know how he would start. He really knew that Henry was out of it cause he was constantly talking about something. He could never let silence last this long. Eventually, Henry excused himself to go to the bathroom. A couple of minutes later, their food came out and Ray couldn’t be happier for the excuse for their silence.

When Henry came back, he immediately brightened at the sight of his pancakes. The way he tore into them resurrected that small question of when the last time he ate was. This time he decided he might as well ask seeing as his family was no longer around. 

“What’d you have for dinner last night, kid?” He decided not to come out and essentially accuse him of not being fed. The kid was already standing on shaky ground regarding his home life, he didn’t want to push him over the edge. 

“Uhh, when I came home, I had a hot pocket.” Ray waited for him to continue but when Henry went back to eating with no further information, he realized that that was it. Which only confirmed to him that his sidekick was not eating enough, not by a long shot. He wasn't going to think about this now, he just wanted to eat his breakfast for now. He’ll think of all this later. 

He was making good progress on his own food when he happened to glance at Henry. He had paused over his food, eyes wide staring down. At first Ray wasn’t sure what was going on but as he saw Henry’s face blanch, he knew what was going to happen.

“You okay?”

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Before he could completely finish the sentence, he had scrambled to the nearest trash can and vomited up the contents of his breakfast. Ray turned his head to avoid the worst of it. He couldn’t stand the sight of vomit, it made him throw up. But he held it back for Henry’s sake. When he was done, Ray stood up to guide him to the bathroom. As soon as there was a toilet in sight, Henry went right back to throwing up. Thankfully, he was dry heaving before long. Ray could only just stare at Henry in confusion. Henry eating fast wasn’t new and there was no way he got sick because of that. Before Ray got a chance to speak, Henry answered his question. 

“When I’m stressed, I throw up.” He said between deep breaths. 

“Like test-I’m-gonna-fail stressed?”

“Like got-kidnapped-by-a-goon, lifes-kicking-my-butt, abandoned-by-my-mom stressed?” With that, Henry flushed the toilet and got up off the floor. He cringed as the taste of old pancakes and orange juice crossed his mouth again. Right now though he felt embarrassment in the pit of his stomach. Throwing up in front of Captain Man—not helping his mood. He finished washing his hands and speed walked to the car. Ray called his name behind him but he was on a single track out the door. As if this day couldn’t get worse. He was tempted to just walk instead of endure another car with Ray after what had just happened but he didn’t know where he would go. Instead, he was forced to go back to the car and wallow in the few moments he had alone. To add insult to injury, the door was closed, so he made himself comfortable on the jagged concrete outside the car door until Ray came back. He didn’t have to wait very long. From his seat on the ground, he couldn’t see the man exit the diner but he heard him approach the car and unlock it. After hearing a few exclamations and his name called anxiously, he announced his presence.

“I’m over here.” The sound of hurried strides preceded Ray until Henry saw him turn the corner to where he sat against the black car. 

“Oh thank god. Let’s get out of here, Henry.” The teenager couldn’t agree more. This day was not going as well as he was hoping. He was really hoping some pancakes would help his mood but it only made things worse. No, the pancakes weren’t the problem, it was him. As usual. He mechanically opened the passenger side door and crawled in, in a significantly worse mood than when he had left. 

Ray didn’t immediately start the car. After Henry had ran back to the car, he took a moment to inform the servers of the mess that the boy had left in the bathroom. The server who had helped them earlier inquired into what had happened and while he didn’t divulge Henry’s business, he had told them that the boy was under alot of stress. They were sympathetic and gave him some advice for dealing with a stressed out teenager. He wasn’t usually inclined to listen to such old ladies but he did think there was some wisdom there and he was desperate. Among the many, many things they had told him, he was told to be honest and willing to apologize. Of course. He had had that same feeling before, that he needed to tell Henry sorry, but they were interrupted before he could. No interruption now. 

“Okay, Henry. I’m sorry for earlier. I wasn’t trying to be insensitive but bear with me here. I’m trying. This is all new for me. Captain Man doesn’t do this part of the job. We’re learning together, okay?”

Henry kept his head down but he nodded all the same. On the inside, hearing what Ray had said made him feel a little better, if anything, a little less alone. The thing that hurt the most was how alone Henry felt going through all of this but knowing that Ray was sticking by his side was comforting. Besides, the man had apologized (at least attempted to, it was barely an apology). He never did that, even when he was objectively in the wrong. It made him feel somewhat important.

“Oh and the server gave you some more pancakes to replace the ones you threw up?” Ray handed Henry a white container that seemed to come from nowhere. Inside were three chocolate chip pancakes with some syrup on the side. He couldn’t fathom eating anything in the next few hours but he was definitely saving these for later. 

“I should throw up more often.”

“Gross, please don’t.” This was what Henry needed the most, a distraction from how messed up his life was at the moment. Ray was always the best at distracting him with pointless conversation and Henry could feel his spirit lifting as they drove and talked about nothing that was important. It made Henry forget about what else Ray planned for that day.

“Where are we going?”

“The police station.” Any good mood Henry had was shot. This was going to be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the love you've given this story! I take each kudos, comment, and hit personally. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, as uneventful as it was. Sorry if the characters are OOC, I'm the worst at dialogue. Hopefully I'll have more for you guys soon. If you have any suggestions or feedback, leave a comment. Y'all are the best <3


	3. Crop Circles in the Carpet

The smell of bleach and disinfectant was burning Henry’s nose, which definitely wasn’t helping his persistent nausea. Who knew a police station would be so clean? 

And then there was the temperature. It was freezing. They hadn’t been there long but goosebumps were already raising on his exposed arms. It took everything in him to not curl up like before. Henry closed his eyes, trying to calm his senses but he couldn’t stop his leg from bouncing up and down. 

“There’s no reason to be nervous, Henry. They’re just going to ask you what you know.” Ray didn’t look up from the pamphlet he was reading but his effort to reassure the kid wasn’t lost on Henry. The teen nodded and tried to focus on something that wasn’t where he was right now. His normally crowded mind was suddenly void of distractions. 

They had been there for about ten minutes. After they explained the situation, the receptionist had told them to wait while she got someone to help. She seemed concerned when they told her, which was somehow reassuring to Henry. Like he wasn’t crazy. And he knew Ray was right and he shouldn’t be nervous but he couldn’t help it. There weren’t many other options beyond this. After all, they were heroes, not detectives. They didn’t have the resources to look for missing people. Great, now his leg was bouncing again. 

“How much longer?” Henry whispered. 

“Geez, Henry. I can’t make them go any faster.” Of course, Henry knew that. He didn’t want to take his anxiety out on Ray but he didn’t have a whole lot of options. His phone died on the drive over from the restaurant and he left his charger in his backpack in the car. He could run out and get it but what if he missed something important. Ten minutes passed by with this same thought and he realized he should have just gone before. Instead, he gave up and shoved his phone in his pocket. In an attempt to calm down, he closed his eyes and took some deep breaths. A few seconds of this proved useless to Henry and his frazzled senses. He needed a distraction from his thoughts, not meditation. Guess the only option was bothering Ray. 

“What are you reading?” Henry looked over, though he wasn’t paying much attention to any words on the page. Ray quickly stuffed it in his pocket and changed the subject.

“Nothing interesting.” Henry didn’t have the presence of mind to pick up on what Ray had done. Instead, he took the opening to converse about what was actually on his mind. 

“What do you think? Do we have a good chance? I mean, I just want everything to go back to normal. It wasn’t the best but at least I was there to protect my mom, in case anything were to happen. What do you think?” His train of thought seemed to be bouncing everywhere, but it pointed in the same direction. He needed his mom to be okay.

The older man did his best to look optimistic but the best he could muster was an impassive face. “Ya know Henry, I don’t think you need to worry about it. Everything’s gonna work out.”

Henry's face fell. He wasn’t asking for much but that was cliche. “You know you suck at giving advice. That doesn’t help me at all.”

“Most people would consider that pretty sufficient.”

“Yeah, It’s the bare minimum.”

“Doing my best here, kid. If you didn’t notice, I’m a little out of my element.”

“A little more effort would be appreciated.” Henry muttered. 

Before Ray could respond, the receptionist directed them to the desk of the police officer who would assist them. Looking around, Ray recognized quite a few of the officers there, which was expected. Though he thought they could be occasionally inefficient, they worked together so they were more or less friendly. It didn’t matter right now, however. They only knew Captain Man, not Ray Manchester. The officer assigned to help them called them over and the pair sat in one of the two chairs in front of him. This officer, Officer Benton, Ray didn’t recognize. The state of his desk told him that this guy was new. His space was immaculate, way different than the cluttered disaster everyone else’s looked like. If the new guy was handling this case then it definitely wasn’t priority number one.

But Ray had to hand it to him, he was thorough. He asked every question known to man, which made him think maybe he could be helpful. For the most part, Ray was silent and only answered questions about the voicemail he had been left. Henry held it together as he answered question after question about his mother. There was a moment when Ray thought he had seen the teen’s eyes sheen over but he recovered. The interview lasted about 20 minutes and by the end, the officer had a couple pages full of notes. 

“Well,” he began, “that’s all the information I need. I promise we’re going to do the best I can to find her and bring her back safely. I’m hopeful we’ll get everything sorted out.” He smiled at them reassuringly. Henry seemed to brighten up at that but again Ray wasn’t entirely sure. 

“Thanks so much for your help,” Henry said. He really didn’t think he would be able to answer any of the questions about his mom but it seemed like the more the guy asked, the better he felt about their chances, which lifted his mood. The officer definitely seemed like he cared and Henry trusted that he would do his best. 

“Since you don’t have either parent here to look after you, you’re going to have to talk to a social worker to get you in the proper hands. She already knows you’re here, just head down this hallway and to the right. I’m going to talk to Ray for a second.” Henry didn’t look very sure but he did as he was told nonetheless. As the teenager left, Officer Benton turned to Ray once again.

“First off, I do think we have a good chance of finding her. It hasn’t been very long so she couldn’t have gotten far. But, I’m getting the feeling you don’t think we should be looking very hard.” Ray was taken aback and looked at him in surprise. How could he have known that?

“You haven’t shown much of any emotion this entire time. I may have just transferred here but I’ve been doing this for a little bit.” That shouldn’t have surprised Ray but he was off his game today. Everything was more draining than he thought. “What do you think about all this, Mr.Manchester?”

Ray looked back to make sure Henry was out of earshot and leaned a little closer in. He reached into his pocket and showed the pamphlet he was reading from earlier.

“I was looking through this pamphlet earlier about childhood trauma and it scared me. I only work with the kid so I don’t know everything he goes through but what I do know is … concerning. I don’t want to accuse anyone of anything but I don’t think Henry should be returning back to his mother’s care. Honestly, I don’t believe she was coerced. I think she wanted to leave but in her last shred of decency, she decided to leave a note and call me.” 

“I can’t say I don’t agree, Mr.Manchester. I got the same feeling listening to the story. I have a feeling if we do find Mrs.Hart, we may have to do some more investigating. But until then, Henry can’t stay on his own. What we typically do is look at the other parent and then any biological family. But if we can’t find them, it falls to you. Are you still willing to take care of Henry, possibly long term?”

Ray is going to say yes, there was no denying that. But, boy did this officer put it into perspective. His two major thoughts never seemed to ever occur to him at the same time. He didn’t really think they would find Henry’s mom and yet he accepted that he would be watching Henry in her absence. It never occurred to him that he could be watching Henry forever, at least until he’s 18. Ray was not a parent. He could barely take care of himself, let alone a child for a long period of time. He just wasn’t the loving or caring type. Besides, he enjoyed being a bachelor. Being Swellview’s superhero came with enough responsibilities. He didn’t think he could handle anymore.

But at the same time, he had sworn to protect those in need and who else did he owe that to more than his own sidekick. It was clear that Henry needed him and he had to be there for the kid. However long it would take. 

“Yeah, I think I am.”

“You’re a good person, Mr.Manchester. Go ahead and join Henry with the social worker.” Ray shook his hand and thanked him for his help before getting up. As he walked down the hall, he couldn’t shake the feeling that things would be changing for the both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a little bit yall. Thanks again for all the love this story has gotten, you guys are seriously the best. I promise I didn't forget about this story, college is just taking up all my time. Please give me your thoughts or any ideas (seriously! the writer's block is real). I'll see you guys soon.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I just love the idea of father-son Ray and Henry. Found family is one of my favorite tropes. Btw this is 100% platonic, no romance. Hopefully, I'll have more for you guys soon.


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